Keli and Janet are heading to Italy in 2017 for a week
of creative play, glorious food, wine, and adventure.

Art Affair in Umbria: June 10-17, 2017

We’ll celebrate the sweetness of Italian life and the camaraderie of women during this workshop as we relax around the pool, drink wine, eat delicious food, and create art. There are so many beautiful villages and interesting sites near Piegaro, it will be difficult to choose which to visit first. Fans of Art Affair in France…don’t worry, there’s a bounty of delicious cheese, wine and chocolate to be had in Umbria!

Our home for the week will be the Villa at L’Antica Vetreria,
a beautifully renovated glass factory originally founded in 1292 and located in the medieval village of Piegaro.

Among our adventures will be a tour and tasting at the Perugina Chocolate Museum in Perugia and a visit to the ancient town of Deruta, world-famous for its Italian ceramics, where we’ll meet of one of Poggi Bonsi‘s pottery suppliers and have a private tour of their studio.

Ancient hill towns abound in Umbria, together we will decide which ones to explore. Assisi is famous for the Basilicas of St. Francis and St. Claire, cobbled stone streets full of shops, and traditional olive wood products. Spello, just a short drive from Assisi, is a delightful medieval village with many shops and restaurants. Bevagna, one of the most charming towns in Umbria, is situated in a little valley and is perfect for a relaxing stroll and perhaps a gelato at the Gran Caffe Garibaldi. Montefalco is knows for elegant Italian linens and its magnificentlocal red wine Sagrantino di Montefalco.

Morning yoga classes, energizing walks, and meditation with Janet will rejuvenate our bodies and open the doors to our creative centers. Keli will guide us through artistic exercises and teach mixed-media techniques to create a unique painting which will serve as a memento of our week in Italy. The glittering mosiacs on the facade of the Cathedral of Orvieto, created by glass masters of L’Antica Vetreria, and the medieval villages we visit, will serve as artistic inspiration for our individual masterpieces.

We’ll expand our palates as we sample local wines and dine on wonderful meals in osterias and more intimate dinners prepared by our personal chef Jennifer McIlvaine of Life Italian Style. A Farm to Table cooking class with Jennifer will include a stop at a unique stone flour mill and wood-fired oven bakery where we’ll learn about bread making beginning with grain; a local farm where animals are raised for salumi, meat and cheese production; we will make cheese and pasta with Nonna Rita before indulging in a traditional farm lunch. A winery tour and tasting with our host Colleen Simpson are also included. This special retreat will nourish your body, nurture your creativity and enliven your soul.

Come stay and play with us at L’Antica Vetreria,
where you can celebrate your love affair with art and rediscover yourself.

Cost: $2,750 per person

Price includes:

Airport transfers to and from Piegaro and Fiumicino Airport in Rome.

Charming Double-occupancy Rooms (king beds will be made into twins),
all with En-Suite Bathrooms.

Art instruction and Materials. Students will complete a 12″ x 12″ mixed media painting using ephemera and objects we find on our excursions.

Continental Breakfasts prepared by Keli and Janet and all Dinners including local wines. Some evening meals will be prepared by our personal chef, and some will be enjoyed at local eateries.

Join Keli and Janet for a week of creative play, mindfulness, and adventure.

Bijoux Affair: June 22-29, 2016

Bijoux means jewelry in French, and we all love to accessorize! Each day we will unlock our creative flow through meditation, yoga movement, walking, and artistic exploration. We’ll teach you basic knotting, stringing, and wiring techniques to complete several wearable art pieces. We’ll tour charming village boutiques, antique stores and a Sunday flea market to find unique components to incorporate into jewelry projects and inspiration for sketching and painting in our journals. One day we will stroll down the street to paint our own silk scarf with British artist Ann Mason. La Cascade’s sky-lit art studio is open 24 hours a day for artistic play.

This workshop will present a choice of relaxation, journaling, jewelry making or jumping in the car for nearby field trips. Among our adventures will be the famous Saturday market in Revel, a Sunday Flea Market at one of the nearby villages, as well as visiting the Metissage bead shop in the medieval town of Pezanes. We’ll visit Minerve, known as one of the most picturesque hamlets in France as well as being the capital of the Minervois wine region. Yes, there is much wine to be tasted!

We’ll expand our palate as we dine on the wonderful food prepared by our personal chef. A French cooking class will be included, with Chef Nese sharing the intimate art of French cuisine with us. This special retreat will nourish your body and soul. Come stay, work and play with us at La Cascade, where you can celebrate your love affair with art and rediscover yourself.

Cost: $2,450
($500 deposit to hold your spot, balance is due by March 1, 2016.)*

Price includes:

Instruction and Materials

Charming Double-occupancy Room

Most meals prepared by our own personal chef

One Cooking Class

24-hour Open Studio

Registration:

Registration is limited to 8 participants

To reserve your place fill out the form below and mail your check for $500, payable to Janet Crawley to this address: 17803 5th Avenue Southwest, Normandy Park, WA 98166.

*$500 is non-refundable after March 1, 2016. If cancellation is necessary before March 1, 2016, deposit will be refunded if your spot on the tour can be filled.

Create, cook, and imbibe…not necessarily in that order!

July 1-11, 2016

Enjoying lunch on the terrace,

Janet and Keli are teaming up with Nese Pelt, owner of La Cascade Art Center in Durfort, France for 10 days of heavenly French cooking lessons and new art experiences.

Included are five days with cooking lessons or food-related field trips interspersed with art workshops and travel to flea markets and historic villages in the region. We will partake of local specialties at charming eateries in the area for at least one lunch and two dinners.

Each day we will unlock our creative flow through guided meditation, intuitive painting and simple sketching exercises. Our observational skills will be sharpened while visiting charming villages and markets and recording what we see. We’ll have fun exploring acrylic painting on Venetian plaster in La Cascade’s lovely sunlit studio as we create our own fresco masterpieces embellished with flea-market finds.

This 10-day workshop will present a choice of relaxation, painting, journaling, or jumping in the car for nearby field trips. Among our adventures will be the famous Saturday market in Revel, the Sunday Flea Market in Lautrec, as well as visiting the Episcopal city of Albi and visiting the Toulouse Lautrec Museum. Most mornings will be spent together in the studio, which is open 24 hours a day for artistic play.

12″ x 12″ Lemon Fresco by Keli Sim DeRitis

We’ll expand our palate as we dine on the wonderful food prepared by our personal chef. Five French cooking classes will be included, with Chef Nese sharing the intimate art of French cuisine with us. This special retreat will nourish your senses and feed your body and your soul. Come stay, work and play with us at La Cascade, where you can celebrate your love affair with art and food.

Experience a Unique Week in Southern France
August 23-30, 2015

Janet and Keli are teaming up with Nese Pelt, yoga practitioner, massage therapist,
chef and owner of La Cascade for this unique retreat.

Join us for a week of spiritual growth and artistic exploration in a 400-year-old house in the tiny village of Durfort in southern France.

We’ll spend time nurturing our body through yoga movement, learning about chakras and self-healing techniques. We’ll have the opportunity to enjoy European cuisine with cooking lessons taught by Nese and Keli, and even schedule private massage appointments with Nese.

Janet and Keli will engage your minds during guided artistic meditation and other creative exercises including intuitive painting, designing your own chakra cards, and creating a Mala bead necklace used in meditation.

You’ll have an opportunity to experience personalized sessions of Tarot Card, Rune readings, and quiet walking meditation. Through yoga, breathing exercises and a variety
of meditation you will practice calming your mind to find the silence within. This quiet of your inner being helps you to experience an amazing opening to your body, heart, soul
and spirit.

We will each take part in shopping local markets and preparing our delicious meals in La Cascade’s lovely kitchen. Part of our Karma Yoga experience will be caring for La Cascade and participating in daily life in a French village.

There are many charming villages, markets and artisan shops near Durfort which we will explore. Dining out at local eateries for one lunch and one dinner sampling some of the regional specialties of southern France such as cassoulet and foie gras, will round out our culinary adventures.

Cost: $1,750

Price includes:

Instruction and Materials

Charming Double-occupancy Room

Most meals

Cooking Classes

24-hour Open Studio

Registration:

$500 deposit to reserve your space

Final Payment due by April 1, 2015 (If payment is received after April 1, 2015,
the cost for the workshop will be $2,000)

If you wish to pay by credit card, there will be an additional 3% processing fee.

Consummate your affair with art in the French countryside

September 1-8, 2015

Rendezvous with Keli and Janet for a women’s art retreat at La Cascade
in the charming village of Durfort which sits in the ancient Midi-Pyrenees Region.
Together we’ll experience a week of fun and inspired art-making.

On Art Affiar in France 2014:
“This is a must do again trip! The accommodations were great, the food was wonderful,
and Janet and Keli are the best! Everyday was a new adventure filled with
historical sights and facts about the area we were in that day!”~Sally, Olympia, Washington

We’ll bring life to inspired creations in La Cascade’s large sky-lit art studio, working with acrylic paints, gels and mediums, building up luscious, vibrantly colored landscapes influenced by the beautiful French countryside. Together we’ll explore abstract, impressionistic and traditional painting methods, as well as experiment with design and composition.We’ll enhance our artistic senses as we dabble in paper clay sculpture creating whimsical animal characters.

One day we will stroll down the street to paint our own silk scarf with British artist Ann Mason. Each day we will unlock our creative flow through guided meditation and simple sketching exercises and sharpen our observational skills by visiting charming villages and markets.

The week will present a choice of relaxation, painting, collage, sculpting or jumping in the car for nearby field trips. Among our adventures will be the famous Saturday market in Revel, the Sunday Flea Market in Lautrec, as well as visiting the Episcopal city of Albi and visiting the Toulouse Lautrec Museum. Most mornings will be spent together in the studio, which is open 24 hours a day for artistic play. We’ll expand our palate as we dine on the wonderful food prepared by our personal chef. A French cooking class will be included, with Chef Nese sharing the intimate art of French cuisine with us. This special week will nourish your senses and feed your soul. Come stay, work and play with us at La Cascade, where you can celebrate your love affair with art.

Cost: $2,350

Price includes:

Instruction and Materials

Charming Double-occupancy Room

Most meals prepared by our own personal chef

Evening Cooking Class

24-hour Open Studio

Registration:

$500 deposit to reserve your space

Final Payment due by February 1, 2015 (If payment is received after February 1, 2015,
the cost for the workshop will be $2,500)

If you wish to pay by credit card, there will be an additional 3% processing fee.

Additional Items to Consider
Passport
French Dictionary
Reading Materials
Euros (at Least 100 to start, more if you are not intending to bring a debit card. There are cash machines in Revel to get additional cash with a U.S. debit card.)
Credit Card with European Chip (ask your bank about this)
Photo copy of credit cards and passport
Art Kit & Apron from Keli & Janet
Yoga Mat or Beach Towel

Consummate your affair with art in the French countryside

June 11-18, 2014

Rendezvous with Keli and Janet at La Cascade
in the charming village of Durfort which sits in the ancient Midi-Pyrenees Region.
Together we’ll experience a week of fun and inspired art-making.

We’ll bring life to inspired creations in La Cascade’s large sky-lit art studio, working with acrylic paints, gels and mediums, building up luscious, vibrantly colored scenes from our village walkabouts, adding interesting little treasures that we collect on our trips to the local flea markets. We’ll enhance our artistic senses as we dabble in paper clay sculpture capturing the animal characters of the French countryside. Each day we will stretch our bodies and minds with a gentle yoga practice and sharpen our observational skills, unlocking our creative flow through guided meditation and simple sketching exercises. Using charcoal in shades of gray, we will capture the lusciousness of the fruits and vegetables found in village markets, while learning about highlight, shadow, contrast and blending.

The week will present a choice of relaxation, painting, collage, sculpting or jumping in the car for nearby field trips. Among our adventures will be the famous Saturday market in Revel, the Sunday Flea Market in Albi, as well as visiting En Calcat Monastery, famous for its collection of art books.

Most mornings will be spent together in the studio, which is open 24 hours a day for artistic play. We’ll expand our palate as we dine on the wonderful food prepared by our personal chef. A French cooking class will be included, with Chef Nese sharing the intimate art of French cuisine with us, as we create an evening meal. This special week will nourish your senses and feed your soul. Come stay, work and play with us at La Cascade, where you can celebrate your love affair with art.

Cost: $2,100

Price includes:

Instruction and Materials

Charming Double-occupancy Room

Most meals prepared by our own personal chef

Evening Cooking Class

24-hour Open Studio

Registration:

$500 deposit to reserve your space

Final Payment due by February 1,2014
(If payment is received after February 1, 2014, the cost for the workshop will be $2,350)

Registration is limited to 8 participants

Participants will be mailed a registration packet with detailed itinerary
and more information.

To reserve your place fill out the form below and mail your check, payable to Janet Crawley or Keli Sim DeRitis to this address: 17803 5th Avenue Southwest, Normandy Park, WA 98166.